iffer's review against another edition
3.0
I applaud Benn Passmore for telling his truth and many others', but I enjoyed some of these comics more than others. There were many fist-pumping bits for me, but I'm not sure if I found this "eye-opening" (on NPR's list of eye-opening books for 2018), though I suppose it depends on each individual's lived experiences. My favorite thing about this collection might've been the shorthand for crunchy white person as someone reading a yoga cookbook :p
I don't love the art, though I feel that it suits the comics well. I never thought that I would say this, because large and irregular format comics and graphic novels generally annoy me (just seem like a way to gouge customers and make shelving difficult), but I think that the art could've benefited from a large format, since there was a lot of text and detailed art to digest.
I don't love the art, though I feel that it suits the comics well. I never thought that I would say this, because large and irregular format comics and graphic novels generally annoy me (just seem like a way to gouge customers and make shelving difficult), but I think that the art could've benefited from a large format, since there was a lot of text and detailed art to digest.
clellman's review against another edition
This was very weird and "out there," and frankly, in some of the comics, I had zero clue what was going on. My favorite was the one that had some interesting critiques of BLM from the left. The Black Power movement was inherently self-determining and self-empowering, whereas the name of the BLM movement implicitly relies on white people to agree that Black lives matter, to be morally affected by seeing a die-in, etc. He explains it better in the comic! There were lots of spelling mistakes in this (not including the obviously intentional ones like "Itz" for "It's" and stuff).
thegayngelgabriel's review against another edition
4.0
Still goes hard; still both very funny and genuinely affecting.
ajswhimsy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
atypewritersings1969's review against another edition
4.0
I'm probably going to re-read this again at some point. But Your Black Friend was the visual antidote I needed amidst a period of reading very heavy scholarly works on the afterlife of slavery. Passmore is an entertaining visual artist and storyteller. I connected with his characters, both human and non-human (or rather the strangers among the strangers).
smortimer's review against another edition
If the premise sounds good to you, pick this one up for the interesting social commentary & surrealist anarchy fun.
punchedtoast's review against another edition
3.0
I really struggled to finish this one. So many stories I really liked and the imagery was awesome. Others, I just lost interest or maybe couldn’t keep up? It got weird. Real weird.
maweets's review against another edition
3.0
This was a mix of strange and powerful short comics. The ones that were powerful and thoughtful were pretty moving. The strange ones were really out there and a little confusing. It is certainly a unique read.
mzjai117's review against another edition
4.0
This whole graphic novel was hilarious! The author made some really tough topics easier to talk about.